Green Coffee: Coffee Bean Types

by Upender KaushikFebruary 24, 2018

More than 70 countries grow coffee plants, and brewed coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Consumers are increasingly concerned with how their coffee is grown and processed, and with the quality and freshness of their morning cup of Joe. Serious coffee connoisseurs purchase green coffee beans so that they can roast them to taste, ensuring the freshest coffee possible. Because green coffee beans have a long shelf life, you can purchase them in bulk on markets and store them for later roasting. Learning about different kinds of green coffee beans and their content can help any coffee lover to make a wise purchase.

What are Coffee Beans?

A coffee bean is the seed of a coffee plant, the pit inside the red or purple fruit, called a Cherry. When the fruit is ripe, farmers hand-pick and process them to remove the bean. Wet processing, common in Central America, involves removing the fruit flesh and then fermenting the seeds in water for two days. Dry processing, more typical in Africa, consists of carefully drying the fruit in the sun for two to three weeks.

Green coffee beans contain both volatile and nonvolatile compounds, which deter pests from eating them and contribute to the coffee flavor. These compounds include proteins, trigonelline, free amino acids, carbohydrates, and alkaloids including Chlorogenic Acid.

Types of Coffee Beans:

The coffee plant belongs to the species Coffea from the plant family Rubiaceae. The plants have a natural height of up to four meters and white blossoms. There are around 500 species in the plant family Coffea but only a few of them are important for the coffee production. Most important and most famous coffee types are Arabica (coffea arabica) and Robusta (coffea canephora). Both kinds account for around 98% of the world coffee production and differ in taste, growing region, altitude and growing conditions.

Most regional coffee beans will fall into two rather broad main categories; Arabica and Robusta.

Arabica has become known mainly because of its aromatic flavor. Unlike the heat-resistant and fast-growing coffee type Robusta, Arabica stands out due to its noble taste and mild caffeine content (1% to 2%). That makes Arabica most consumed coffee kind today. Nearly 70% of the world coffee production falls upon Arabica.

Robusta is more productive than Arabica and more resistant to diseases and pests, which is why it was named “Robusta”. Robusta beans have considerably more caffeine than Arabica beans (2% to 4,5%) and have a higher acid content. The taste is strong but less aromatic, sometimes slightly bitter. Around 30% of the world coffee production is allotted to Robusta, which is mainly used for espresso roastings.

Green Bean Revolution

A recent spike in the consumption and demand for unroasted coffee Arabica beans has brought to surface a third variety of coffee beans known as green coffee. While undergoing roasting, coffee beans are said to lose out on many of their inherent qualities, thereby the resulting brew lacking the full potency of the coffee bean. Thus unroasted coffee beans which are green in color and rich in many naturally occurring antioxidants are growing in demand not only as a delicious beverage and health drink but also as a dietary supplement. Moreover, regular consumption of green coffee is said to be extremely beneficial for the health.

Of all its magic healing properties like combatting cholesterol, controlling glucose levels, improving blood circulation in the body and an effective detox agent, the most astonishing is its ability to fight and abet weight loss. As it contains a higher content of Chlorogenic Acid than regular coffee, green coffee consumption produces bursts of energy and acts upon free radicals thereby acting as an amazing dietary supplement. It fights hair loss and baldness too. A naturally occurring beverage with such wonders is no doubt to gain more ground in the years to come.